With the AAA season still a little over a week away and dealing with salary cap constraints, the Nine have announced they will take only minimal changes in the first week of roster expansion. The main problem at hand was how to replace Robtero Miranda, who is being placed on the disabled list. The answer appears to be “call up Angel Hernandez and bring JJ Abrams back off DFA.”

Hernandez has been with the Nine off and on for several seasons, providing stop-gap support at many times. His numbers, already borderline at times, fell off the cliff earlier this year, and he was sent to AAA where he turned in a semi-respectable .286/.350/.372 slash, and stole 16 bases in 18 attempts. He’s a solid defensive player in left, and is expected play against left handed pitching. He’ll also likely spell Carlos Garcia, who has been manning center most of the year.

Abrams, who earlier announced his retirement and then refused assignment back to the minor leagues, stayed on the DFA list through his waiver period. But with the expansion of rosters, he now has a place to come back to. “I thought I might be finishing my career in Louisville for a while there,” Abrams said. “Thank God for small miracles.”

The 36-year-old veteran will take reps in Salvador Gonzalez’s slot in effort to keep the injury-prone Gonzalez on the field as the presumptive post-season approaches.

“We plan to bring a couple more guys along next week,” General Manager Ron Collins said. “We’ll see what we need and how the money works out.”

Tomita Reclaimed as “Insurance Policy”

In another odd little move, the team played hot potato with Las Vegas regarding the contract of Daisuke Tomita, claiming the aging reliever from the Hustlers waiver wire, just as Hustler GM Matt Rectenwald had done with Tomita a few weeks prior. He can remain in DFA for another week before the club needs to activate him. “It was a risk question,” Collins said. “Like an insurance policy. We think Daisuke can help us if we need to compete, but if we’re in good shape we’ll bring a kid up instead. So we’ll assess his situation next week, and expect we’ll either see him in Yellow Springs, or if we can go younger, we’ll cut him his check and let him move on.”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum